Things Change
by David Ginsberg
Summary: Graduation approaches and Shawn realizes that his relationships with Cory and Angela won't be the same after high school.
1. Chapter 1

Jack had put his foot down about Chet coming up to the apartment for Christmas, which meant that Shawn had talked him into going to the trailer for Christmas Eve. He wasn't normally a big Christmas guy, but he felt mildly cheated at spending the day watching Shawn's forced levity with an increasingly drunk Chet. Luckily, Chet passed out before getting belligerent, and Shawn carefully laid him out on the couch and put a blanket over him.

"How long is that going to last?" Jack asked.

"Usually he sleeps through the night. If he doesn't, we don't want to be here when he wakes up."

"Let's go back to the apartment, then."

When they got there, Cory was standing dejectedly by the door.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked, mildly annoyed.

"Yeah, I thought Topanga was staying with you guys," Shawn added.

"She is, that's the problem." Cory went on to describe his latest relationship crisis, which Jack didn't quite understand, but which apparently had caused him to flee to the apartment for solace.

Jack was mildly irritated, but Shawn seemed horrified.

"You walked out on Topanga on Christmas Eve day? Cory, go back."

"No. I'm not gonna go back." Jack was privately of the opinion that Cory had the emotional maturity of a three-year-old, but had never discussed this with Shawn.

Shawn turned to Jack. "You know, Jack, he doesn't realize how lucky he is to have a girl like Topanga."

"Uh-huh."

There was a knock at the door and Jack answered it to find Topanga.

"Your boyfriend's here."

"I figured he would be."

"What exactly are you guys fighting about?"

"I'm not…sure exactly. Did he tell you?"

"Something about grapefruit." Jack led Topanga into the living room, where she apologized fulsomely to Cory for whatever it was and asked him to come back home with her. He decided instead to stay at Jack's apartment and watch _A Christmas Carol_ on TV.

Jack decided to intervene before Shawn spent the rest of his Christmas tending Cory's bruised ego. "Do what you want, we're going skating."

They got their skates and walked over to UPenn's rink. They stayed out until the rink closed and then walked back to Jack's apartment.

There was a note from Cory on the dining room table, inviting them over for dinner. Jack was famished from skating so long, and there was no food in the house, so he agreed against his better judgement.

When they got to the Matthews', everyone else had finished dinner and gathered in the living room for George Feeny's reading of _A Christmas Carol._ Shawn and Jack each got a plate and sat on the floor for the reading. Somewhat drowsy from the food and having spent five hours skating, Jack got lost in the story until the final "Bah Humbug!" He looked around to realize that everyone except for him, Shawn, and Feeny had fallen asleep.

Shawn stood up and stretched. "Mmmmm…what time is it?"

"Just past midnight. You boys should think about staying here tonight; you look a little sleepy to be driving."

"You're probably right," Jack said, "I'll go get the spare blanket from the car."

"I'll walk with you," Feeny volunteered, "I'm going that way anyway."

When they got out to the driveway, Feeny turned to Jack. "Did Shawn have a good Christmas?"

"Yeah, we went ice skating."

"He's always loved ice skating."

"Yeah, it's really the only interest we have in common."

"Well, go every chance you get this year. The two of you have a lot of lost time to make up."

"I know."


	2. Chapter 2

Cory had insisted on everyone opening their college letters together at Chubbies, which mildly irritated Shawn. Even though he had great recommendation letters from his bosses at Keller-Marsden, and Jack gave him a legacy connection at Penn, his freshman year had dragged down his GPA. He decided to start with his safety school, Pennbrook.

It was an acceptance letter. Shawn looked up at Cory, who was grinning. He'd gotten into Pennbrook too.

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief. Now he knew he would at least be going to college somewhere.

"Alright, now for Wisconsin…" Cory opened another envelope, and pulled out another acceptance letter.

Angela got in to Northwestern and Topanga got waitlisted at Yale, which left just one set of letters, from the University of Pennsylvania. Hands trembling, Shawn opened the envelope and pulled out the letter.

 _Dear Shawn,_

 _Congratulations! On behalf of the entire Penn community, it gives me great pleasure to invite you to attend the University of Pennsylvania as a member of the Wharton School Class of 2002…_

Shawn's heart leaped in his chest. "Cory!" he said hoarsely, "I got into Wharton!"

"Oh," Cory responded flatly.

"Is something wrong?"

"I…um…didn't get in."

Topanga jumped in to save the moment. "Oh my God, Shawn. We're all so excited for you! Aren't we Cory?"

"Yeah. Way to go, Shawn," Cory said half-heartedly.

Shawn stood up. "I'm going to go tell Jack!"

"I'll drive." Angela volunteered.

They rode back to Philly with Jack's Third Eye Blind CD playing at full volume. Jack pulled out a package from under the passenger seat.

"What's that?" Angela asked.

"Open it when we stop," Shawn responded.

They pulled into the garage and Angela opened the package to find a Reed College t-shirt in her size.

"Crap, that's the wrong one." Shawn opened the glove box and pulled out another package, which contained a Northwestern t-shirt.

"How many of these did you get me?"

"Reed, Iowa, Wellesley, Bucknell, and Pennbrook. But I'm returning the rest." Shawn playfully grabbed the Reed shirt away from Angela.

They went up to the apartment, where Jack and Eric were sitting on the couch. Wordlessly, Shawn handed Jack the acceptance letter. Jack responded by screaming and jumping up to hug Shawn.

Angela sat down next to Eric and watched them celebrate.

"So, how terrible of an idea was it to have everybody open their acceptance letters at the same time?" Eric asked.

"Terrible."

"And who's the disappointed party?"

"That would be your brother, my friend."

"Hoo…boy."

"Yeah."

"So did he get in anywhere?"

"Pennbrook and Wisconsin."

"Well, he did better than I did on my first try."

"What do you think it will take to get him to pick Wisconsin?"

"Play up the cheese. Cory loves cheese."


	3. Chapter 3

Nobody said anything about college for the next week or so, until finally Cory brought it up on the way to class. "So, Shawnie, did you pick a college yet?"

"Huh?"

Cory laughed falsely "I guess you have a lot to pick from. I mean Pennbrook, Penn, Penn State…Penn something else."

Shawn decided to rip the band-aid off. "I'm going to Penn."

"You didn't…think about Pennbrook?"

"I mean, Penn's the 13th best school in the country."

"Yeah, but Pennbrook's got a rock wall."

"When have you ever seen me go rock climbing?"

"Never too late to start."

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Are you going to Pennbrook or Wisconsin?"

Cory sighed. "I don't know, Shawnie. You're going to Penn, Topanga's going to either Penn or Yale. I just don't know."

"Well what about your other friends?"

"Huh?"

"Cheryl? Pam? Judy? Tom?"

"I dunno. I just always thought it'd be the three of us."

"You know, if you go to Pennbrook, and Topanga and I are both at Penn…"

"Then we'll be both be at colleges with Penn in the name?"

"I mean we won't have the same classes, but we can still hang out."

"What, you're going to go all the way across town to slum it with me at Pennbrook?"

"Cory, they're literally adjacent campuses."

They got to class, which brought the conversation to a natural end.

Conflicted about how to advise Cory, Shawn sought out Mr. Turner after school.

"What's the problem, Hunter?"

"It's Cory. He didn't get into Penn."

"Did he think he was going to?"

"I think he thought we'd end up getting into the same places. I mean, if you looked at our grades and ignored the legacy from Jack and my letter of reference from Keller…"

"…and the two novels you've had published, the multimillion dollar ad campaigns…"

"…We'd be pretty similar academically."

"So how is this your problem?"

"I think he wants my advice whether to go to Wisconsin or Pennbrook."

"What do you think?"

"I mean, selfishly, I want him to go to Pennbrook."

"You're not usually selfish when it comes to Cory."

"But Wisconsin's a better school."

"How do you know?"

Shawn pulled out a copy of _U.S. News and World Report_. "Wisconsin's ranked 34th, Pennbrook's ranked 98th."

Turner rolled his eyes. "Those magazine rankings don't mean anything. Pennbrook's a fine school."

"They let in Eric."

"I know some of the professors there. It's a very good school for undergraduate teaching. You, on the other hand, are going to get stuck with bitter grad students for the next two years. And Feeny's going to be teaching in their ed school."

"I just don't want to hold Cory back."

"Let me explain how you're different from Cory. You would do fine at Wisconsin, because for all the damage it did your childhood taught you to make the best of whatever situation you're in. Cory, on the other hand, is going to have a hard time adjusting to a new environment if he doesn't have his friends to fall back on. If he goes halfway across the country, my bet is he'll be back at home on the couch eating bon-bons before Thanksgiving."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks."

"Any time, kid."


	4. Chapter 4

Cory was still moping about his rejection from Penn when Shawn dropped by after school the next day. Shawn tried to cheer him up, but just ended up getting sucked into a review of every last-place fat camp and baseball trophy Cory'd ever won.

Trying to change the subject, Shawn picked up Cory's old ukulele. "Wait. You used to be pretty good at this thing."

Cory picked it up and started singing the song he'd made up back in fifth grade, about his dog having fleas, until Shawn couldn't take it any longer.

"Ok, you USED to be pretty good at it."

Shawn followed Cory downstairs, where Mr. and Mrs. Matthews were trying to convince Morgan to enter a talent show. Cory started in on his father as soon as Morgan left.

"Way to groom another eighth-place honorable mention, nothing special also-ran, Dad."

"Okay, what now?"

"What now?" "What now?" I could've been one of the greatest ukulele players in the world. Are you getting that this isn't about the ukulele? I could've been great at something, and you stopped me."

"We didn't stop you. You just lost interest."

"Oh, well, how come you didn't give me a paint set when I was two? 'Cause you were more excited about toilet training. "Cory big boy now," you would say. Oh, "Cory big boy now. You know, why didn't you ever push me to be anything great? You didn't help me find out what I was good at."

Shawn rolled his eyes. He loved Cory, but dear God could the kid get melodramatic.

"And I do not want to be one of these people, Dad, who has no first-place trophies and no special talents. I mean, why didn't you want me to be better?"

"Better? Better than what?"

"Better than what I am."

"You mean better than me."

"Yeah. Better than you."

Shawn was shocked. "Cory!"

Cory waved him off and turned back towards his father. "No, it's just I'm never gonna be great at anything because I was raised to be average. And I'm average because you're average."

Shawn grabbed Cory by the shoulders and spun him around. "Cory, just stop it! I realize that you're upset because you think Topanga and I are going to move on and leave you behind, but God Cory, can't you see that you're hurting people?"

"What do you care? He's not your father."

"Do you have any idea what I'd give to have him be my father?" Shawn hadn't meant to say that in front of Mr. Matthews and immediately regretted it.

Cory seemed taken aback. "Shawn, you just don't understand what I'm going through."

Shawn jumped at the chance to extricate himself from the situation. "You're right. Maybe I should just go."

"See you at school tomorrow?" Cory asked pleadingly.

"See you tomorrow."


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Cory wasn't by the flagpole where they usually met before school. Mildly worried, Shawn did a circuit of the hallways looking for him.

He ran into Kenny outside of Williams' class.

"You looking for Brillo-Head?"

"Yeah, how'd you know."

"He's in the third floor bathroom. What'd you do, break up with him or something?"

"College issues."

When Shawn found Cory, Fred Godfrey and Mike Harvey were standing outside the stall door trying to cheer him up.

"Hey, look who it is. It's the ice-cream man. Well, hello Mr. Ice Cream Man. What's that? Cory, he says he's got your favorite flavor."

"Vanilla?" Cory's voice was laden with sarcasm.

Shawn decided to intervene. "What's going on?"

Mike and Fred, who hadn't noticed Shawn come in, turned around. "What are you doing here, Hunter?" Mike retorted.

"Kenny said he was in the bathroom."

"He locked himself in and won't come out. What did you do to him?"

"Why do you think this is my fault?"

"Because you're a bad influence, Hunter."

"It's not Shawn," Cory moaned. "I'm searching the caverns of my soul."

"Not the caverns," Shawn muttered. He banged on the stall door. "Cory, open this door!"

Cory finally came out. "I did a terrible thing. I mean, I did the worst thing I could possibly do. I called my father average."

"That's not the worst thing…"

Fred interrupted "Did Shawn put you up to it?"

Shawn turned around and snapped at Fred. "Why the hell would I do that? If I called my Dad average, he'd be thrilled."

"My Dad wasn't thrilled," Cory responded. "I mean, he was crushed. I crushed my father."

"Cory, we all say things we don't mean. Just apologize and he'll understand."

"I meant what I said. I feel like I'm just a regular guy like my father's just a regular guy. How do I apologize for that?"

"Look, just go home and talk to your father. I'm sure he'll understand."

"I can't. He's gonna kill me."

"An average father might be angry, but your father isn't average. So go home and find out how wrong you are."


	6. Chapter 6

Cory seemed like he was in a much better mood the next day, so Shawn decided to broach the subject.

"So did you talk to your Dad?"

"Yeah, he drove me down to his old store and gave me a really confusing lecture about his dad sweeping, but I think we're cool now."

"Did he mention what I said at all?"

"Huh?"

"About wanting him to be my Dad. He wasn't, like, weirded out or anything."

"Wait, was he not supposed to know that?"

"Don't worry," Topanga assured Shawn, "it's been painfully obvious since you were, like, 12."

"Gee, thanks. Anyway, have you thought anymore about college?"

"I don't know, Cory sighed, "I'm still pretty bummed out we won't be going to the same place."

Topanga tried to put things into perspective. "A lot of people don't get into the schools they want, Cory. I didn't get into Yale."

"You got on the waitlist."

"Cory, do you know how many people got into Yale off the waitlist last year?"

"No."

"14."

"Out of how many?"

"1100."

"So is there still a chance you'll go to Pennbrook?"

"No, I'm going to Penn, Cory."

Cory sighed.

"They're directly adjacent campuses." Shawn reminded him. "The three of us will still be together."

"And I'll be _far_ away from all of this." Angela muttered.


	7. Chapter 7

Shawn and Cory were intercepted on their way downstairs by Mr. Matthews.

"Listen. Y'know, um..." He sat down awkwardly between Shawn and Cory "your senior prom can be a night to remember without it being uh... a big night. Cory, I want you to remember that things can happen in a minute that could change your life forever. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Dad."

Alan pointed at Shawn "Do _you_ understand me."

"Yes, Dad." Shawn had meant to come across as sarcastic, but something about the way Alan messed up his hair made him think he hadn't quite pulled it off.

Shawn and Cory suffered through pictures with Amy's new instant camera, which had been purchased with the proceeds of _Poconos Ski-Lodge,_ and were finally released to meet Topanga and Angela at Aunt Pru's house.

"Does your dad really think we're virgins?" Shawn asked.

"Look, as far as he's concerned, Topanga and I are waiting for our wedding night."

"So do I need to make it look like we got three hotel rooms?"

"Three?"

"One for you, one for Topanga, one for me and Angela."

"Better make it four."

Shawn looked offended. "He thinks _I'm_ a virgin?"

"He _wants_ to think that."

"He can't seriously think you're going to wait for your wedding night."

"He did."

"You mean he _says_ he did. And anyway, your parents got married straight out of high school. You'll have a lot longer to wait."

"Actually…."

"You're not thinking of…."

Cory nodded. "I bought a ring and everything. I'm going to do it at graduation."

"Cory, that's a terrible idea! We're just kids!"

"But we've been together our entire lives."

"No, she talked you down from the jungle gym when we were five, you said you were going to marry her because you were _five_ , and then you promptly went back to thinking girls are icky until seventh grade. Look, we can talk about this later."

"Alright."

They pulled up at Topanga's aunt's house. As usual, Aunt Pru was less than happy to see Cory, and quickly shooed them out.

"Man, I can't believe she's related to your mother," Shawn remarked as he pulled out of the driveway.

"Me neither. I'm just glad she didn't put up a fight about the hotel rooms."

"What did you tell her?"

"The prom wasn't supposed to end until after the last train and you were going back to the apartment after."

"Smart, what about you, Cory?"

"Huh?"

"What'd you tell your parents?"

"We were supposed to tell our parents?"

"About the hotel rooms…."

"I sort of figured we could just, you know, come home early tomorrow morning."

"Cory, it's been a while since I climbed in through your window. Don't you think I might be a _little_ out of practice?"

"Umm…"

Angela interjected. "Just call your parents from the prom and tell them you're tired and you're going to stay with Eric and Jack. I'll say Topanga's staying in a room with me if anyone asks. We'll just need to call Eric and Jack."

"We won't need to," Shawn explained.

"Why not?"

"Feeny convinced them to chaperone."

They had barely gotten into the ballroom when Cory and Topanga were accosted by Howie Gruber. Shawn and Angela left them to their own devices and went out to the dance floor. They kept dancing until the d.j. started playing Kenny G.

"You want to go up?" Shawn asked.

"Hell, yes."

They ran into Jack on the way out, and he gave Shawn an obnoxious wink.

"You know, one of these days, your brother's going to cock-block you," Angela muttered under her breath.

Shawn gave her a worried look.

"But not tonight," she pecked him on the cheek, and they began kissing intensely as the elevator doors closed.


	8. Chapter 8

Meanwhile, Eric had followed them out of the ballroom just in time to see his father hugging a strange woman.

"Daddy!" he whispered under his breath.

Not knowing what to do, he ran off to find Jack.

"Jack, Jack!"

Jack turned around, looking somewhat confused. "What is it?"

"My father just checked into this hotel with a woman who is not his wife or my mother."

"You're crazy, your father's happily married."

"I just saw it with my own eyes!"

"Prom fever." Jack nodded to himself, "I remember my prom night... Actually, all I can remember is being in the back of the limo with Karen…"

"Barbie Feldman…" Eric drooled.

"Anyway, you were talking about your dad."

"Right! I gotta save my father!"

Eric ran off, and Jack turned back to watch Cory and Topanga get crowned prom king and queen.

"Poor kids," he muttered to himself, "they'll be stuck up on that stage another thirty minutes."

After bribing the hotel clerk with 10 bucks and a 'mystery bag,' Eric ran up to the hotel room that 'Mr. Matthews' had checked into. He threw open the door and yelled "The tramp's not worth it!" before looking down to find Cory and Topanga.

"Hey, Topanga. Hi, Cory. Good, you guys got here first. Where's Dad?"

Cory held up a Do Not Disturb sign. "Eric, did you not see this?"

"Wait a second, the guy said this was the Matthews' room."

"It is! Now get out!"

"So it's just you and Topanga?"

"Yes!" they yelled in unison.

"Alone in a hotel room?"

"Yes!"

"So! Watcha doing."

"Goodbye Eric." Cory shoved him out of the hotel room.

Eric opened the door and yelled "Oooohhhh." Before Cory slammed it again.

After getting the other Mr. Matthews' room number, Eric came back upstairs just in time to see his father shouting "I'll be right back – Siobhan!" Eric stood dumbfounded as the elevator doors closed in front of him. He could hear screaming, and opened the door again just before it went back down to the first floor.

Eric strode towards his father, who was standing in the hallway with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"You thought you could get away with it, didn't you? How could you do this to my mother?!"

Alan tried to defend himself. "Um... well... nobody planned this... it wasn't something we planned on! It just... kind of happened, you know? Like one of those wonderful miracles! it's happened to me three times already!"

"Ugh." Eric covered his ears. "I don't want to hear any more!"

"You don't even live in the house anymore! It's not like I'm asking you to give up your room." Alan playfully punched his son in the arm.

"Wait – you're... you're moving her into the house?! Ok, listen, I gotta know who's in there. COME OUT NOW!"

Eric was horrified when a very confused-looking Topanga emerged from the hotel room.

"Top...anga?! Oh, Daddy! How could you do this to Mom?!"

Just as he said that, Amy walked out of the next hotel room, followed by Cory, who looked as though he were about to be physically ill.

"Mom! And... and Cory? Man, I'm so out of the loop"

The door to the hotel room across the hall opened and Angela came out in a bathrobe. "What's all the yelling?"

"We didn't, umm, interrupt you guys, did we?" Cory asked.

"No," Shawn followed Angela out. He was wearing a matching bathrobe, and looked happily disheveled. "We were, um, you know, between, you know." Shawn noticed Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. "What are you two doing here?"

"We're celebrating!" Alan exclaimed.

"We were going to tell you tomorrow, but…"

"We're having a baby!"

Cory couldn't believe his ears. "You're, you're having another baby?"

"We're having another baby!"

"You're having a baby!" Eric shouted, "I'm going to be an uncle."

Alan saw an opportunity for a teachable moment "Y'know, it's like I told you before. Sometimes things can happen in a minute that will change your life forever."

"Which is lucky that for us, this came at a time when we can handle it," Amy added "Have a nice night you two."

They walked arm-and-arm down the hallway. Shawn caught up with them in the elevator and thrust a pack of condoms into Alan's hands.

"Look, when you get a minute free, _please_ let me give you the demonstration with a banana."

Alan returned the box with a scowl. "We're Catholic." A second later, he reconsidered. "Did you ever show Cory with the banana?"

"Yes, a long time ago."

Alan patted Shawn on the shoulder. "Good man."


	9. Chapter 9

Shawn returned to Cory's house the next day, and went straight to Cory's bedroom.

"So how was last night?" he asked suggestively.

"We ended up getting dressed and going back to the dance," Cory explained, "it's kind of hard to get in the mood when you've just walked in on your Mom in sexy lingerie."

Shawn grimaced. "Yeah, I'll bet. So, umm…big night last night. Did they tell Morgan yet?"

"Yeah, she's pretty excited about it."

"Good."

"Is that why you came?"

"No, actually I came about the other thing."

"You're going to try to talk me out of it."

"Yeah, it's a crazy idea."

"It's not so crazy when you think about it. We've been together for 16 years."

"No, you've been together five years, and broken up at least once a year. You made up this whole together-your-entire-lives thing to make your life fit some narrative you've concocted in your head."

Cory didn't bother to mount a defense. "Well my parents got married right out of high school."

"Yeah, because your dad was about to get shipped off to 'Nam."

"We're going to different colleges."

"Probably won't be as much sniper fire, though."

"How old were your parents when they got married?"

"Mom was 18, Dad was 28."

"That's…a big gap."

"Yeah, I try not to think about it. Anyway, my point is that if you marry Topanga now you'll end up beating the shit out of her until she gets fed up and runs off with your house."

Cory got offended. "I would never do that."

"Ok, maybe you won't do that, but one way or another it wouldn't end well."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're doing this for the wrong reasons."

"And what reasons would those be?"

Shawn sighed, "You're afraid that Topanga and I are going run off to Penn and have big exciting lives and leave you behind, so you're trying to keep her by asking her to marry you."

"And?"

"And that's not fair to her, or to you, because if she does want to move on, she's going to feel like you've trapped her, and she's going to resent you, and you'll hate each other, and it won't just ruin your future, but it'll ruin your past, because every memory of the time you were together will be tainted."

"So what should I do instead?"

"Take a deep breath, graduate, and keep moving forward. If you and Topanga are meant to be together forever, you'll be together forever. Otherwise, she'll be her and you'll be you, and I'll always be there for you, no matter what else happens."

Cory stood up and hugged Shawn tightly. "Thanks, Shawnie."

The tender moment was interrupted by the sound of giggling coming from behind Cory's door. Cory opened it to find Morgan listening at the keyhole.

"How much of that did you overhear?"

"Enough to tell Mom and Dad you're going to propose to Topanga if you don't give me ten dollars."

"Actually, Shawn talked me out of it. So, there."

"Then I'll tell Topanga you let Shawn talk you out of proposing to her."

Just at that moment, Alan passed by carrying a load of laundry. He set it down to pat Shawn on the shoulder. "Good man."

"Thanks," Shawn replied, "You sure you don't want me to show you on the banana?"

"Show him what?" Morgan asked.

"Uhhh…it's a magic trick. You peel a banana and it's already sliced."

"Who slices bananas?"

"Magicians!"


	10. Chapter 10

A couple of weeks later, Shawn was arguing with Jack over the massive graduation party Jack had planned.

"Graduation doesn't mean anything to me, Jack."

"Well it should, you overcame a lot to get here."

"I didn't overcome anything."

"Sure you did, your dad, your mom, the, um…other stuff."

"Yeah, but that's still going to be there even when I have a stupid diploma."

Jack sighed. "Sometimes overcoming things means earning a stupid diploma even when they're still there."

"Look, I just don't want to make this a big deal."

At that moment, they heard a knock on the door. Shawn opened it to find Angela.

"Can we talk," she noticed Jack standing behind Shawn, " _alone."_

"Why don't we go up on the roof?"

They went out onto the balcony and climbed up onto the roof.

"So do you want to tell me what that thing in the living room is supposed to be?" Angela asked.

" _That_ is a caricature of me with a big head and a small body riding a diploma into the future."

"Oh, so he's planning a big party?"

"Yeah." Shawn was noticeably unenthusiastic.

"And you don't want him to?"

"All of a sudden, something tells me you won't be there."

Angela looked down at her hands "Actually, that's what I came to talk about."

"About how we'll be halfway across the country from each other?"

"Right, and about how I'm going to be spending this summer with my Dad in Europe and I'll probably want to travel and stuff during summers in college, and about how I don't want to be tied down in a long distance relationship when I'm trying to start a whole new life. It doesn't have anything to do with you, or Cory, or your… issues. I just want a fresh start."

"Come on," Shawn forced himself to smile through the tears, "a little of it has to do with Cory."

"Kind of. When I look at him and Topanga I can tell that they have something we never will."

"No, we won't, but we made some good memories."

Shawn and Angela leaned in for one final kiss.


	11. Chapter 11

Shawn was nervously adjusting his graduation cap when Cory came up to him.

"Have you seen Eric?"

"No, why?"

"We think he has a zany scheme to keep Feeny from retiring."

"Oh, God."

"We don't have much time."

"Actually, I'd be cool with missing the ceremony."

Cory glowered at him. "Jack would kill you."

"Not if I got to him first." Topanga said.

"Alright, let's go, he'll probably be in Feeny's classroom."

Sure enough, they found Eric cornering Feeny in the classroom.

"Hey, Eric," Shawn said, "maybe this is a bad time."

"But Feeny's leaving! And he still had so much left to teach us."

"No," Feeny said turning to Shawn, Cory, and Topanga, "my work with you is done."

"I dunno," Cory responded, "it's pretty scary…going to a whole new world."

"And you're ready to go into that world," Feeny reassured him.

"Even me?" Eric asked.

"Even you." Feeny sat on the desk. "I do have a few final words of advice before you go. Believe in yourselves, dream, try, do good." Even though he had spent the last several weeks proclaiming to anyone who would listen that graduation didn't mean anything, Shawn felt himself tearing up.

Topanga broke the tension by standing up and hugging Feeny. "I will never forget you," she sniffed, "you were more of a father to me than my own dad," had he been less emotional, Shawn would have thought this was an odd statement, but he didn't notice it. Instead, he followed her and shook Mr. Feeny's hand.

He tried to say something meaningful, but it came out as a jumble of teary sentiment. "You, uh, you never gave up on me. Not even once. I'm not going to forget you, you're the best person I know." Impulsively, he leaned in and hugged Feeny.

When he let go, Shawn could have sworn there was just the tiniest glimmer of a tear in Mr. Feeny's eye.

"We'd better get going," Topanga urged. She hustled Shawn, Cory, and Eric out the door, leaving Feeny alone in the classroom. He took one last look around and then went to turn off the light. "I love you all, class dismissed."


End file.
